1. Cabinet Organizers and Lazy Susans

How often do you find yourself rummaging through your kitchen cabinets for that skillet or sauce pan that just seems to have disappeared? And where’s that favorite utensil that you haven’t been able to track down for months? Must be hiding in the back of one of your cabinets somewhere. And be honest, would you pull out the Cuisinart more often if you didn’t have to get on the floor on your hands and knees to dig it out of the cabinet?

You can greatly improve convenience in your kitchen with cabinet organizers and lazy susans that make your cabinet interiors visually accessible and easily reachable.

These storage enhancements make it simple to see what you do and don’t have, and you no longer have to pull everything out of a cabinet to get at an item that’s hiding all the way in the back.

2. Upgrade to a Modern Dishwasher

Today’s modern dishwashers have come a long way. With larger capacities, improved cleaning power, separate compartments, and quiet operation, dishwashers today are more advanced and convenient than ever.

Even better, many of the newer dishwashers can provide all of these improvements and extra cleaning capabilities with better energy and water saving features than the model you currently have!

Top end models are in the $1300 to $1500 range, with many outstanding choices under $1000.

3. Convection Ovens

Some of the manufacturers have created some confusion about convection cooking. First, let’s clear up the confusion on convection ovens. Simply enough, a convection oven has a built-in fan inside the oven cavity that circulates the heated air throughout the oven and evenly around the food.  This has three main benefits:

• Heats up the food evenly front to back, top to bottom, side to side.
• Can speed up the cooking time by constantly forcing the heated air around the food.
• Creates a surface “skin” of heat around the food which enhances browning, seals flavor in, and prevents flavor transfer (flavors mixing together between two items cooking at the same time).

With convection cooking, trays of cookies and appetizers will cook evenly and quickly. Better yet,  you can load up the oven on every rack and still get even and consistent results. And preventing flavor transfer means you can cook different items such as fish and bread together at the same time and and avoid an undesirable blend of flavors from between the two.

Convection ovens cost more than regular ovens. But many kitchen chefs swear they will never go back to a conventional oven after using a convection oven.

4. Hanging Pot and Pan Racks

Add convenience and easy access to your pots and pans with a hanging rack. Putting your cookware on display with a hanging rack also adds visual appeal to your kitchen. And getting your cookware out of the cabinets helps you recover more storage space.

If you’re looking to save on the budget, wall mounted racks are less expensive. Typical prices for hanging racks prices are in the $100 to $200 range, with a number of attractive options for under $100.

5. Ventilation Hoods and Exhaust Fans

If your cooktop gets frequent use, don’t overlook a good ventilation system for the kitchen. Cooking can churn out plenty of smoke and airborne contaminants.

There’s no question, food smells great while it’s cooking, but smoke and contaminants can turn into unpleasant odors  that linger throughout the house for several days.  Even more so if you have upgraded the insulation and windows in your home, which can further trap stale air inside. With an effective kitchen ventilation system, you can easily eliminate the lingering odors and help keep your house smelling fresh and clean.

Modern ventilation hoods are equipped with larger capacity blowers that can move higher volumes of air and and provide much better ventilation. Prices range with many options under $1000 on up to $2500 or more for higher-end designer models.